In order to communicate network traffic between a source device and a destination device, packet forwarding networks forward packets between networking devices, such as routers and switches, along the path between the source and the destination. In some networks, network fabrics implement various forwarding strategies, which can include store-and-forward and cut-through forwarding. With cut-through forwarding, the networking device does not have to wait for the entire packet to be received before forwarding it on to the next device.
While cut-through forwarding can reduce the latency of packets being transmitted through the network, cut-through forwarding has some drawbacks. For example, with cut-through forwarding it may be difficult to identify the particular location of a network error because a number of networking devices may register the error.